Building Community, Building Lives

Alana's Story

When Alana found out that she probably wouldn’t be able to graduate high school, she was frustrated, and felt like she was letting herself and her family down. Alana didn’t feel that she was able to get the support or attention that she needed to succeed in high school. After coming to PYB, that all changed for her. Alana says, “People cared here, they have the time and the space to create relationships where they really care about their students.”

Alana exited programming at PYB so that she could focus on working to support her family, but continued to stay engaged with her career coach, Danny, and was able to complete her GED. Alana especially appreciated the way that PYB helps students to form a plan, “I came to PYB knowing what I wanted to do, but I didn’t know how to do it, and PYB laid it out for me.”

Seeing that Alana had expressed interest in becoming an electrician, Danny suggested she attend a two day training that PYB had set up for our current students at the Electricians Training Center. At this training, Alana stood out due to her professionalism, aptitude, and questions for the trainers. This training led to Alana getting accepted to a Pre-Apprenticeship summer program, which helped her to eventually be accepted as an Electrician’s Union Apprentice.